Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-12-08

boat, had nothing to do but sit quiet
ly in the boat and let her drift Ant
she drifted all night Soon after day
light heard the swash OF a vessel com
ing toward me. l jumped up and hail
ed her. She was small outward bound
bark, sailing slowly, with the wind Oh
her beam. There were people on hel
deck, and, just as they passed. one Of
them hove ne line, which 1 caught
In minute was on board the vessel
surrounded by several roughlooking
Spanish sailors, who examined me from
head to foot as if / were curiosity
While they we're still watching me the
lcaptain came up, and, in broken Eng
lish, told me that his vessel had Just
left Bordeaux for Buenos Ayres. He
could not put back to land me, and it
would be unsafe for me to leave the
bark in the fog. He had spare berth,
land 1 could work my passage, he said.
He then ordered the little boat in which
/ had been found to be hauled on board.
Il was placed in the mates watch
The mate was a wicked-lookinS fellow,
who at once took strong dislike to me.
OEs morning l began to whistle while
at my work The mate heard me and
gave me 4 sound thraahing. took it
from that that the mate was very super
stitious, like the majority Of Spanish
sailors then, and fancied that my whist
ling weuld bring the vessel i'll luck
After that he always thrashed me on
the slightest provocation. We had un-
favorable Winds and calms nearly the
whole time Tho mate and the sailors
all seemed to regard me as the cause of
the unfayorable winds, for often
caught them looking at nae in distrust
full way, ss if they thought WIS
Jonah
THE food wss worry poor and there
was little Of it. slept in little room
in the deckhous where some of the
stores were ksDA There was small
trap door in The deck in this ROOM
One night, when we had third watch on
dock, l saw as passed the galley door
that there was something that looked
Ike can Ct preserved meat on shelf
inside the door. 1 watched my chance
and seized the can and took il to my
bunk, where I hid It, At midnight when
1 turned in 1 found that the can con-
tanned picked lobster. 1 ate the whole
contents of the can and then stole out
on deck and threw the can overheard, l
slept heavily after turning in and later
ol had an uneasy feeling. as if my
stomach wasn't working rightly. 1t
seemed to me as if were climbing up
and down preclpices and cropping along
narrow lodges, and now and then crawl
ing along IN dark caves Suddenly the
scene seemed to change. I thought my
self in small boat alone on the ocean.
A vessel came rapidly in sight and hur-
ried past me. Help! helpr cried;
don't leave me here to perishr Then l
heard an answering cry in Spanish. l
replied with another cry fer help. Then
1 awoke and found myself in the laza-
retto Of the bark, with my head sticking
out of small portfolio. In my night
mare l had got out Of my bunk, opened
the trap door in the deck, gone down
into the hold, climbed aft along the
cargo, entered the lazaretto through a
small trap door, opened the port and
stuck my head out into the air and yell
ed for help. 1t took me moment or SO
to realize all this. 1 then heard cries
on deck, and I concluded that / had
really yelled out and that the people on
deck thought that the yells came from
sone one who had fallen overheard or
II lom some shipwrscked person in bout
OF clinging to raft.
II shuddered when l thought Of the
thrashinS that was sure 10 receive
from the mate il he discovered that I
had been responsible for the alarm.
closed the port and started to retrace
my steps. I had got through the trap
door of the laznretto when stumbled
and fell ever u basket. As I did so
heard the clinking Of bottles. I tore
open the basket and found that it uas
filIod with bottles Of wine I broke off
the neck of enc Of the bottles, which l
proceeded to empty. 1 felt very com
Portable after il, and lay down on some
mating which had been placed over q
portion Of the cargo. I began to feel
drowsy. and the next thing l remember
was waking mp nust have been asleep
for a number OF honrs. 1t occurred to
me that had been already missed, and
that the crew probably thought that I
had fsllen overheard and had mistaken
my nightmare yells for drowning cries.
Il knew that whom reappeared on
deck there would be troable, so I took
another bottle ef wine to brace rp with.
While 1 was drinking this it struck me
that it would be good idoa for me to
see if there were not some eatables at
hand. I found near me a number OF
, hams, several cares OF fine biscuit, some
boxes Of raisins and aquantity Of fancy
groceries packed in lish boxes and easy
to get at. l also feund few eases of
champagne and number OF cases OF
light wines. After making a hearty
meal l concluded that with such ample
resources at hand it voald be foolish OF
me to go up on deck and get thrashed.
1 opened tho trap door OF the lazaretto,
Al